Charge 5 heart sensors not working

[Aronius1961]

My Charge 5 heart rate sensors no longer work.  There are no flashing red lights on the underside when off my wrist and no heart rate data or active zone minutes show on the device or app.  It does track steps.   Is there a solution?  

Background:  A few days ago the device bricked for no apparent reason.  There was no firmware update that I am aware of.  I got it going again after attaching it to the charger cable and trying the triple press on the cable. Had to do it multiple times.  It then had trouble tracking anything and connecting to phone.  Now tracks steps and connects to phone after multiple device resets, re-pairing with phone Bluetooth,and, in the app, deleting device and adding again as a new device.  Have not tried cleaning contacts as they look pretty clean and I can see whether they light up clearly when device is off my wrist.

[RiekoC]

Hello @Aronius1961 

You mention you don't see any red lights on the back of your Charge 5. Do you see a green light on the back? You can check by placing your finger over the back & across the middle. When you lift your finger, you should see a green light. The green light is your heart rate sensor. 

If you don't see a green light, then your device is defective. You should contact Fitbit support (<-- click link). 

If you see a green light, another thing to check is that heart rate wasn't accidentally turned off on your Charge 5. To check:

• Swipe down from the clock face until you see the Settings tile (last one)
• Tap on Settings tile
• Swipe up until you see Heart Rate. Confirm that it is enabled. 

If Heart Rate was enabled, you might try to turn it off, then on again. It might be worth doing another reset after you've re-enabled Heart Rate on your device. 

[Aronius1961]

Thank you.  No lights at all, neither green nor red.  And heart rate was and is enabled.  I contacted Fitbit support earlier today and the person who helped me was not able to solve the problem, and he "escalated" it, which I understand to mean someone else will be looking at the issue and responding by email.

I don't know why the device should suddenly become defective.  It's been working fine for quite some time.  Will see if I get some help from Fitbit, but I am actively looking at Apple Watches now.  Have had many Fitbits and they always seem to go sooner than they ought.

[RiekoC]

Hi @Aronius1961 

Thank you for confirming you have no lights showing on the back of your Charge 5 and that you've already contact Fitbit support. 

If you don't receive a response from support in a couple of days, please follow up with them.